Christine Chapman

Born in 1964 in Livonia, Michigan (USA). Christine Chapman studied music at the University of Michigan and Indiana University. She moved to Germany in 1990, where she worked as a solo horn player for numerous orchestras in Germany and Europe, including the North German and West German Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Royal Orchestra Antwerp.

Although Christine Chapman has been a professional horn player since the age of seventeen, her first experience with a contemporary music ensemble was a performance with Ensemble Musikfabrik in 2001. She has been a permanent member of Ensemble Musikfabrik since 2004. She is particularly fascinated by two aspects of working with contemporary compositions: the intensive chamber-music interaction with other musicians and composers and the constant development of the instrument and her own playing techniques.

“The opportunity to work with people who devote a large part of their creativity to this genre was like an initial spark for me. Overcoming technical hurdles and bringing the soul of the music to light – that’s the exciting thing for me.”

This is also something that Christine Chapman has in common with her other passion, jazz: “Just like with new music, jazz gives you a lot of freedom, which releases an immense amount of energy in me. You have to have the courage and recklessness to show something new.”